Photography by Frank Cademartori

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Beyond

A panoramic shot from the window of my apartment in Cheonan, S. Korea.

This is Cheonan, S. Korea. I have lived here for two and a half years, which in my mind, is remarkable. My city, though relatively small by Korean standards, is just shy of 1 million people and sits in what is a historically important mountain pass. From the windows of my apartment building you can see these very mountains. Over the top of towers and roofs of residences, these ancient hills loom. Those mountains saw the rise and fall of ancient dynasties. Dubbed the “core of the nation” our sleepy mountain pass has seen centuries of traffic and now is no different. All of the countries expressways and even the KTX (bullet train) pass through our gates. Beyond those roads and rails, or because of them, those hills housed soldiers and their artillery that were unable to stop a North Korean column of tanks, and subsequently saw later when the N. Koreans were unable to defend their conquered city. I come from a flat place, the Midwest, and a flat city, Chicago. I have seen tall buildings, the tallest one in the world for a while, and so the ones I see here are easy to look past; but beyond them are looming hills. As often as I can I stand at my window and look beyond the city limits towards them. I watch as the clouds sweep across them bringing rains. As the snow paints them white and the spring paints them green. I known when the sunrise is secretly breaking the horizon behind their façade as the morning light of dawn shows itself a top their peaks. Beyond my window lies these hills, and beyond the hills lies the rest of the country.